Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death among type 2 diabetic patients. Higher levels of plasminogen activator urokinase receptor have been found to predict morbidity and mortality across acute and chronic diseases in the common populace. This study aims to explore the role of serum plasminogen activator urokinase receptor levels as a cardiometabolic risk factor among type 2 diabetic Iraqi patients. Methods: Seventy type 2 diabetic patients (40 male and 30 female) (mean age: 46.20±7.56 years) participated in this study; 35 patients were with cardiovascular disease and 35 were without cardiovascular disease; their ages range was 40-55 years. In addition, 30 individuals who apparently healthy were selected a

Environmental exposures to lead remain a serious problem in the developing and industrializing countries. Children are the highest risk aged-group for lead poisoning. This study was designed to assess lead exposure in Al-Fallujah city by analyzing blood lead levels in children and adults and to explain the relationship between blood lead levels, hematological parameters and ferritin levels in the children. The study was performed on-(90) subjects, (65children and 25 adults).Venous blood samples were taken for estimation of hematological parameters, serum ferritin levels and blood lead levels. The children group was subdivided into four groups as: group (A) (low ferritin, low Hb), group (B) (low ferritin, normal Hb), group (C) (normal fer

Excess alcohol consumption is associated with numerous metabolic changes and homeostasis disturbances of many macro- and micro-elements in the body. It has been associated with multiple pathologies at all levels. In the digestive apparatus, alcohol has generally been related to its toxic effects upon the liver. Alpha-1 antitrypsin (α-1 AT or AAT) plays an important role in controlling inflammation, coagulation and repair mechanisms in the body and most α-1 AT in the body is produced by the liver; from the other hand, Intrinsic factor (IF), which is a glycoprotein produced by the parietal cells of the stomach is necessary for the absorption of vitamin B12 in the small intestine. This study was designed to assess serum levels of α-1 AT and

Background: Biologically active substances, such as Cathepsin B (CAB) which is a lysosomalcystein protease may be involved in periodontal metabolism in the degradation of organic bone matrix containing collagen fibers in response to mechanical stress from orthodontic appliance. The aims of study were to determine and compare salivary levels of CAB, pH as well as clinical periodontal parameters (Plaque index PLI and gingival index GI) with different orthodontic force magnitudes at different time intervals. Materials and methods: A twenty-four patients (both gender) with age range (17-23) years had Angle's Class II division 1 malocclusion with GI >0.5 enrolled in this study. The level of salivary CAB and pH, in addition to the clinical period

The δ-mixing ratios have been calculated for several γ-transitions in 90Mo using the 𝛔 𝐉 method. The results are compared with other references the agreement is found to be very good .this confirms the validity of the 𝛔 𝐉 method as a tool for analyzing the angular distribution of γ-ray. Key word: population parameter, γ-ray transition, 𝛔 𝐉 method, multiple mixing ratios.

Abdominal fat synthesizes a variety of adipokines, including vaspin and chemerin, that affect the resistance to insulin. This research was conducted to demonstrate the effect of pioglitazone, one insulin sensitizer used to decrease insulin resistance, on these adipokines in   obese patients with polycystic ovary (PCOS). Twenty-five obese women with PCOS were treated with pioglitazone 15mg/bid for 12 weeks. Modifications in fasting blood glucose (FBG), serum fasting insulin (FSI), chemerin and vaspin serum levels, follicle stimulation hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone (T), and in baseline and post-therapy were assessed. Body mass index decreased without any substantial variance after 12 weeks of piogl

This study is an attempt to find whether arginine metabolism dysregulation by arginase activity is related to hyperglycemia, followed by changes in nitric oxide (NO) generation in type 2 diabetic patients. This study includes 42 control subjects (Group I), and 92 Iraqi patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The patient group was subdivided into two groups: Group II (54) with T2DM only and Group III (38) with T2DM and dyslipidemia (who were treating with atorvastatin along with diabetes treatment). The samples were obtained to measure arginase activity and NO levels. Serum arginase activity increased significantly in patients(groupII and groupIII) compared to control group. While serum NO level was significantly lower in diabetic pa

This study is to evaluate plasma levels of several cytokines in preeclamptic pregnancies compared to those of healthy pregnancies. Ninety pregnant women with preeclampsia (37 mild & 53 severe) and thirty healthy pregnant women were enrolled in the study. Blood samples were taken and plasma levels of IL-8, IL-10, and IFN-? were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Preeclamptic women and their severe cases but not mild cases had significantly (P<0.05) increased levels of plasma IL-8, and IFN-? as compared with healthy pregnancies. By contrast, plasma levels of IL-10 was significantly (P<0.05) increased in healthy pregnant women as compared to all groups of preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is associated with an imbalance betwe

Background: Acute appendicitis is a common surgical
problem that is associated with an acute-phase reaction.
Previous studies have shown that cytokines and acutephase proteins are activated and may serve as indicators for
appendicitis.
Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate of serum
levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in correlation to the severity
to acute appendicitis.
Methods: This is a prospective study from December 2008
to March 2009 of patients who had appendectomy in
Department of Surgery, Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital -
Baghdad/Iraq. Serum for estimating levels of interleukin-6
(IL-6) was taken pre-operatively. Depending on the
macroscopic evidence during the operation and the
histopathol

Background: Dietary intakes are critical during pregnancy, because inadequate amounts of key nutrients may compromise fetal development or maternal health. In addition to that maternal diet could be one of the methods to select the gender of the baby. The aim of the study is to correlate the level of the minerals in the mother’s blood with the gender and wellbeing of the baby after delivery.Patients and Methods: Fifty women were involved in this study with a mean age (23.92 ± 4.75), collected from the labor room during labor in the period between December 2013 and May 2014, in Baghdad teaching hospital. After taking a full history from the women, 10 ml of blood was withdrawn from them, 2ml in EDTA tubes for lead estimation and 8 ml in pl